Video: Florida family of murdered gay man makes PSA

Lynn and Pat Mulder are becoming quite the celebrities.The Floridian couple first made headlines last week when they implored the GOP presidential candidates to address pro-gay hate crime laws. The Mulder’s son, Ryan Skipper, found himself on the receiving end of some homophobic madmen last spring. As the family explains in this PSA, two no good hooligans unleashed their anti-gay fury on Ryan, whose throat they slashed and body they battered.

Skipper was found stabbed to death on the side of a Wahneta road March 15. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office has called his slaying a hate crime after a witness told them the men charged in his killing did it because Skipper was gay.

Since then, the Mulders have taken part in two gay pride parades, in St. Petersburg in June and Orlando in October, and are members of Lakeland’s chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.

They recently taped a public service announcement in support of the Matthew Shepard Act for Equality Florida, a gay-rights group. Pat Mulder, 52, has written a research paper on the lack of medical services and rights for homosexual partners, who cannot marry or adopt children in Florida. Rainbow-colored rubber bracelets inscribed with “Remember Ryan” adorn her left wrist. She always wears two “so when someone asks about it, I can give them one.”

Pat Mulder also says that pro-gay activism has “helped her cope,” according to The Ledger. As sad as we are about Skipper’s death, we’re glad to know that his murder spawned such good work and, more importantly, national attention.